Is there a solution to treat verdigris?

[MACKSILKY.]

Just a quick one guy's, whats the best way or is the way without damaging the coin to treat my vic 38 half penny? cheers james.

[Peckris]

Just a quick one guy's, whats the best way or is the way without damaging the coin to treat my vic 38 half penny? cheers james.

[rant] Unfortunately, you've posted the picture in photobucket, where the picture is the same size as the thumbnail here, and zooming in just doesn't work. Far better if you post the picture here (easy now we have a 500k limit) or else use one of photobucket's direct html links so the picture appears here without us having to actually go to that awful site. [/rant]

Anyway, you've got two main options, one slow, one quick. The slow is to immerse the coin in olive oil for months, changing the oil now and then; that might or might not help. The quick is to immerse the coin in good quality vinegar - e.g. balsamic - overnight then rinse thoroughly. The verdigris will change to an inert dark patch, but the rest of the coin will lighten quite a bit.

You pays yer money...

[Peter]

There is a product called Verdicare.

But hey I don't buy green coins.

[RLC35]

There is a product called Verdicare.

But hey I don't buy green coins.

Verdicare is pretty expensive, and I couldn't get it to do anything to remove verdigris.....

[Varietalis]

Mr Sheen window and glass cleaner on a cotton bud will lift recently occurring and superficial verdigris off a toned bronze coin without changing the patina. However, if you don't know how long the verdigris has been there then it's best to assume that it is too established to be safely removed.

[MACKSILKY.]

Thank's guy's for your comment's will post a better pic when my daughter get's back from blackpool i mean benidorm she took the ipad i normally use to take photo's. Peter i don't normally buy green one's myself but the 38 half penny has quite a low mintage figure and one for my albumn, got this for a canny price .

[MACKSILKY.]

Hope this works without posting photo's via photobucket.

Cheers james.

[Peckris]

Hope this works without posting photo's via photobucket.

1838 obverse.jpeg

1838 reverse 1.jpeg

Cheers james.

Getting there ... slowly! You've used only 45k out of your total 500k limit, and you've included a lot of background around the coin.

Here's the kind of thing that can be done (and this was an image from the days when we only had 150k to work with) :

[VickySilver]

• A little hard to tell from the picture but the verd appears a bit superficial and perhaps a bit easier to deal with. Did you try try acetone? That is fairly simple and should not cause any problems if pharmaceutical grade and not left on for long exposure time.

[kai1998inc]

Sort of along the same lines, is there a safe way of removing gold gilding from a coin as I have my eye on a high grade copper coin but it is gold gilded. I understand that gold is very unreactive so I'm not holding my breath for a solution.

Thanks

Kai

[ChKy]

Sort of along the same lines, is there a safe way of removing gold gilding from a coin as I have my eye on a high grade copper coin but it is gold gilded. I understand that gold is very unreactive so I'm not holding my breath for a solution.

Thanks

Kai

There is no way to remove the gold gilding. By gilding the coin surface is irreversibly modified.

[DaveG38]

Sort of along the same lines, is there a safe way of removing gold gilding from a coin as I have my eye on a high grade copper coin but it is gold gilded. I understand that gold is very unreactive so I'm not holding my breath for a solution.

Thanks

Kai

There is no way to remove the gold gilding. By gilding the coin surface is irreversibly modified.

The only readily available substance that can dissolve gold through a practicable process is Aqua Regia, which is a 3:1 mixture of concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acids. Problem is the nitric acid will rapidly dissolve away the copper as well, so not a practicable solution at all. Not only that you will also risk being poisoned by the Dinitrogen Tetroxide given off as a heavy brown gas in the process. Learn to love your gilding is the best advice there is.

[Peckris]

Sort of along the same lines, is there a safe way of removing gold gilding from a coin as I have my eye on a high grade copper coin but it is gold gilded. I understand that gold is very unreactive so I'm not holding my breath for a solution.

Thanks

Kai

There is no way to remove the gold gilding. By gilding the coin surface is irreversibly modified.

The only readily available substance that can dissolve gold through a practicable process is Aqua Regia, which is a 3:1 mixture of concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acids. Problem is the nitric acid will rapidly dissolve away the copper as well, so not a practicable solution at all. Not only that you will also risk being poisoned by the Dinitrogen Tetroxide given off as a heavy brown gas in the process. Learn to love your gilding is the best advice there is.

The ideal solution would be to get gilded coppers 'bronzed', but I don't know a) if it's possible or c) if it would look either good or natural. One more extra coating wouldn't do the finer detail any favours that's for sure.

[Varietalis]

Mr Sheen window and glass cleaner on a cotton bud will lift recently occurring and superficial verdigris off a toned bronze coin without changing the patina. However, if you don't know how long the verdigris has been there then it's best to assume that it is too established to be safely removed.

I meant to say Mr Muscle Window and Glass cleaner. It's good at removing adhered debris and recently occurring verdigris. Moreover, it doesn't leave the tell tale purple discoloration you quite often get after using acetone.

[kai1998inc]

Thanks for your replies. The coin is still an attractive coin even if it is gilded. I think I will get it. Once again, thank you for the advice!

[MACKSILKY.]

Hope the size of these photo's are correct.

[Peckris]

Hope the size of these photo's are correct.

Size : excellent! Focus : getting there...

[MACKSILKY.]

Haway peck i'm trying some good advice on the verd put by all. I might try mr muscle widow clean as suggested, i don't want to gamble and damage the coin, or would it be best to leave the coin as it is?

[MACKSILKY.]

Ha cracked it this time Peck without using photobucket .

[AardHawk]

Close, now you need to get the focus sorted.

[Rob]

Although it is quite a deep strike, probably from a fresh obverse die looking at the relief, there are still quite a few marks on it. 1838 isn't a hard date to find irrespective of mintage, so you should be able to find an unc example with a lot of red for not much more than 100 quid. It certainly wouldn't break the bank as it is nothing like as rare as 1843 to 1848.

[Peckris]

Ha cracked it this time Peck without using photobucket .

Yeah, looks good now!

I'd say the verdigris hasn't taken a big hold yet (though there are a couple of places in the rear legend that need looking at) so the sooner you start, the better. I'd say a few months in olive oil, turning regularly and changing the oil now and then, might do the trick. Or you could try one of the proprietary remedies suggested above, though I haven't used any of them myself.

[MACKSILKY.]

Thank's Rob for your comment's will look into that when i have a bit spare £. Peck i'm going to try the olive oil. I've used this before on coins that have been MD finds, i know it takes time but i've had great success in softening the debris etc then lightly using a tooth brush, if you remember i posted a thread about a year ago 1861 penny 1 over 1. I didn't know using olive oil may result in removing the verd, have you or any other member had success removing the verd using olive oil?

Thanks james.

[Peckris]

Thank's Rob for your comment's will look into that when i have a bit spare £. Peck i'm going to try the olive oil. I've used this before on coins that have been MD finds, i know it takes time but i've had great success in softening the debris etc then lightly using a tooth brush, if you remember i posted a thread about a year ago 1861 penny 1 over 1. I didn't know using olive oil may result in removing the verd, have you or any other member had success removing the verd using olive oil?

Thanks james.

Other members certainly have. I tend to use the vinegar option, but I'd hesitate bigtime if the verd was on a special or valuable coin.

[Mr T]

I'd try using a hardwood tooth-pick as well. It might not do any good if it's terribly encrusted but if it's only light then it works reasonably well.